Premier Frank Hsieh (
"The government is under a lot of pressure for injecting more money into the project, but it's worth it," Hsieh told reporters after the 15-minute ride. "It would be regrettable to give up on it now."
The train departed from Tainan Station, headed northward to Tainan County's Liouchia (六甲) Township and then south to Dashe (大社) Township in Kaohsiung County before returning to the station.
The Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC), builder of the high-speed rail system, reached its target of running the bullet train at a top speed of 315kph on Oct. 30.
THSRC chairwoman Nita Ing (
"This is a milestone for us," Ing said, adding that her first experience on the train was very good.
Ing said that THSRC will hold a provisional board meeting next week and a shareholder meeting in January -- instead of May -- to discuss the approval of three new board directors representing the government, as required by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
THSRC expanded the number of its board directors from 12 to 15 seats last month after the government decided to pump another NT$7.5 billion (US$223 million) into the project. That amount included NT$4.5 billion from the China Aviation Development Foundation and NT$3 billion from China Technical Consultant Inc.
The government currently has two seats in the board but hopes to obtain three more. However, whether the government will be able to occupy the three new seats remains to be negotiated, said Arthur Chiang (江金山), vice president of THSRC's administration division.
The government's holding in THSRC jumped from 11.89 percent to about 37 percent, but 19 percent of that was through purchasing preferred shares, which confer no voting rights, Chiang said.
Ing declined to reveal how much capital the company still needs to complete the project's construction, saying a new fund-raising plan will be released by the middle of the month.
The one-year delay of the project is estimated to cost the company an additional NT$19.3 billion, Chiang said.
Ing announced on Sept. 8 that the firm's board of directors decided to reschedule the opening of the high-speed railway to Oct. 31 next year, blaming delays in the construction of the core mechanical and electrical systems.
THSRC is currently negotiating compensation for the delays with the Taiwan Shinkansen Corp (TSC, 台灣新幹線), contractor for the core system's construction. Yesterday, TSC chairman Takaomi Goto said he hopes the negotiation will be completed by the end of the month.
"I think who should bear the responsibility for the delay is still an open question," Goto told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Becoming familiar with the Japanese-designed bullet train system has taken a lot of time, especially for the THSRC, whose engineers are mostly US and European, Goto said.
Despite the setback in exporting the system for the first time, from a business point of view, the Japanese consortium will still look for other countries in which to introduce the bullet train, Goto added.
The consortium of seven Japanese companies includes Mitsui Corp, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corp, Marubeni Corp, Sumitomo Corp, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Toshiba Electric.
As of the end of September, THSRC said it had completed 89.7 percent of the project, according to a company release. The core mechanical and electrical system which THSRC is responsible for is 66 percent completed, while the project's track and station construction are 83 percent and 93.1 percent finished, the release added.
The Tainan station yesterday seemed far from ready to serve customers, with many areas still blocked off.
THSRC plans to test the track in Taoyuan and other areas in the north starting in January, Ing said.
SECURITY CONCERNS: The Telecom Technology Center ran black-box tests for the Executive Yuan on devices and software from Chinese, US and South Korean firms Network devices from several Chinese manufacturers are insecure and allow personal information to be leaked, testing commissioned by the Executive Yuan has shown. A variety of devices and software, including apps, from Chinese, US and South Korean manufacturers that are used by government agencies at the central and local level were subjected to black-box testing — in which the functionality of an application is examined without knowing about its internal structure, an information-security official said yesterday on condition of anonymity. The Telecom Technology Center conducted the tests, which simulated cyberattacks, to determine their resilience to the attacks, the official said. The center
Americans awoke yesterday to charred and glass-strewn streets in dozens of cities after another night of unrest fueled by rage over the mistreatment of African Americans at the hands of police, who responded to the violence with tear gas and rubber bullets. Tens of thousands marched peacefully through streets to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who died on Monday last week after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck until he stopped breathing. However, many demonstrations sank into chaos as night fell: Vehicles and businesses were torched. The words “I can’t breathe” were
China would attack Taiwan if there is no other way of stopping it from becoming independent, Chinese General Li Zuocheng (李作成) said yesterday. Speaking at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on the 15th anniversary of China’s “Anti-Secession” Law, Li, who is chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Central Military Commission, left the door open to using force. The 2005 law is China’s legislative basis for military action against Taiwan. “If the possibility for peaceful reunification is lost, the people’s armed forces will, with the whole nation, including the people of Taiwan, take all necessary steps to
EXTRA INVITATIONS: Russia, Australia, South Korea and India would be asked to a later summit dedicated to countering China, Donald Trump said US President Donald Trump has been forced to cancel a planned face-to-face summit of G7 leaders this month and now wants to host an expanded meeting in September dedicated to countering China to which Russian President Vladimir Putin would be invited. Trump on Saturday announced that he had canceled the June meeting, which he had billed as a symbol of the US “transitioning back to greatness,” after German Chancellor Angela Merkel told him in a telephone call that she saw the summit in Washington as a health risk. Hundreds of security staff, journalists and officials also attend the two-day summits. Reports suggest
RSS